RISMedia's Real Estate Magazine

JUL 2018

Real Estate magazine is the industry's leading source for real estate news and information since 1980. Published monthly by RISMedia, Real Estate magazine offers timely and relevant real estate news to the industry's top brokers and agents.

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RISMedia's REAL ESTATE July 2018 93
T
echnology is becoming
increasingly central to every
aspect of our lives, and the
buying and selling of homes is no
exception. Not long ago, brokers
had to convince agents to include
photos with their online listings,
and communicating with clients
using video and text message
was unthinkable. However, the
proliferation of smartphones
and advancements in web-
based technology over the past
decade dramatically changed
how the real estate business is
conducted. Real estate agents
and consumers are now armed
with a device that is a phone, a
computer and a camera, right in
their very own pockets.
As a result, Realogy Holdings Corp.
has been working diligently to digi-
tize the real estate process, seeking
to streamline its many moving parts
for all those involved in the transac-
tion: buyers, sellers, brokers, agents,
lenders, mortgage investors, title
companies, government entities,
and more.
As the leading and most inte-
grated provider of residential real
estate services in the United States,
with more than 190,000 affiliated
agents, Realogy has impressive ac-
cess to data and assets that can
translate into tools and innovation.
Realogy spends more than $200
million annually on technology and
is laser focused on its strategy to
build, partner and buy best-in-class
solutions designed to optimize agent
recruiting and productivity by provid-
ing a more seamless user experi-
ence for agents.
"We have always been dedicated
to creating exceptional real estate
experiences for our customers,"
says NRT President & CEO Ryan Gor-
man. "While we place great value on
personal and face-to-face communi-
cation with our customers, we want
to lead the industry with digital so-
lutions that elevate and simplify the
process of buying and selling."
As Title Resource Group (TRG)
Chief Strategy Officer Walter Mullen
aptly puts it, "It takes a village to
make a real estate transaction come
together. From looking at homes
with a local agent to securing the
mortgage loan to the transfer of le-
gal title, a mound of paper requiring
signatures stands between the pur-
chase agreement and the closing of
the deal."
As the real estate transaction forg-
es ahead into the digital age, an in-
creasing number of busy consumers
are more empowered thanks to the
ability to have required documents
not only signed, but now also legally
notarized online, as an increasing
number of states pass legislation al-
lowing digital remote notarizations.
In February 2018, the National
Association of Secretaries of State
adopted nationwide standards for
online notarization. In June, Texas
became the third state to authorize
its commissioned notaries to per-
form online notarizations for signers
from around the world who appear
live before the notary on a screen via
real-time, two-way audio-video confer-
ence software. According to Notarize,
the first notary public platform to en-
able legal online document notariza-
tion, eight states have now passed
laws allowing online notarizations,
with additional states considering
laws this year.
In a move to advance the digital
real estate experience for its af-
filiated sales associates, mortgage
and title companies and its custom-
ers, TRG's parent company, Realogy
Holdings Corp., has now made an
investment in Notarize. The expect-
ed addition of digital notarization to
Realogy's suite of offerings will ad-
vance the company's goal of provid-
ing agents with a completely digital
real estate transaction.
"Notarize technology will allow
TRG to better serve the growing num-
ber of customers who prefer online
digital solutions," says Don Casey,
president and CEO of TRG. "Moving
toward a full digital closing has been
"While we place great
value on personal
and face-to-face
communication with
our customers, we want
to lead the industry
with digital solutions
that elevate and simplify
the process of buying
and selling."
- RYAN GORMAN
President & CEO, NRT